Economic Slowdown: How Bad Is The Job Market Scenario In India?

Job market scenario in India seems grim as slowing economic growth has led to many organisations handing over pink slips to their employees.

Recently, leading Indian biscuit maker, Parle Products Private Limited, hinted that it might have to lay off up to 10,000 workers owing to slowing economic growth and falling demand in the rural heartland.

Let's note that Parle-G, a household name in the 80s and 90s, was considered the world's largest selling biscuit brand in 2003.

India is Asia's third-largest economy and most things, from cars to clothing are witnessing a dent in their sales. This has forced companies to cut down on production and has urged the Indian government to intervene.

Mayank Shah, category head at Parle said that "The situation is so bad, that if the government doesn't intervene immediately ... we may be forced to eliminate these positions."

The biscuit head says that the brand's demand worsened following the rollout of GST in 2017, which levied the highest tax on biscuits which costs Rs 5 only. Another biscuit giant, Britannia, has voiced similar concerns saying consumers are thinking twice before buying even Rs 5 products.

Not just Parle Products Private Limited, FMCG sector, automobile sector and clothing sector, are also facing a slump in sales.

In the FMCG sector, which is Fast-moving consumer goods sector, market research by Nielsen revised its growth forecast for the FMCG sector to 9-10% in 2019, while in the previous year it was 11-12%. This indicates a sharp slowdown.

In the automobile sector, sales declined for the ninth straight month in July. This has triggered major job cuts in India's auto sector, with many companies forced to shut down factories for days and axe shifts.

In another report, an estimated 40,000 people employed by the diamond cutting and polishing units in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra have lost their jobs in the past few months.

Meanwhile, describing the current economic downturn as an "unprecedented situation", NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said, "Over last 70 years (we) have not faced this sort of liquidity situation where the entire financial sector is in a churn," and said the government "must do whatever it can to take away some of the apprehensions of the private sector".

Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has called slowdown in the economy “very worrisome” and said that “a fresh set of reforms” are now needed to boost the economy and growth rate.